Can Smartphones Reduce Distracted Driving?

by
Leah Knapp
on
March 31, 2014

There’s no question that to stay safe behind the wheel, drivers should keep their hands on the wheel, their eyes on the road and their minds on what they’re doing — anything else could become a deadly case of distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Last year, Erie Insurance analyzed the top 10 driving distractions involved in fatal crashes and found that – unsurprisingly – cell phone use was one of the most common causes. But despite the warnings, some drivers continue to use phones while driving. It’s an epidemic that shows no signs of going away completely. That got us thinking – are there smartphone apps that could make drivers safer?

“There’s no question that it would be better if people didn’t use their phones at all while driving, but because we know they sometimes do, we thought it would be worthwhile to make people aware of tools that may help them do it more safely,” says Doug Smith, senior vice president of personal lines at ERIE.

ERIE contacted the bloggers behind TechGuySmartBuy, Because I Said So, and RichMom and asked each to test a different app—DriveScribe, Canary and Vokul™, respectively. (Note: ERIE does not have a relationship with the bloggers or the app developers and is not promoting or discouraging the use of any app.)

Vokul: Hands-free voice control app enabling drivers to dictate texts and emails, post to Facebook and Twitter, call contacts, and listen to music

Very easy to manage iTunes library and play music hands free; can listen to emails and social media feeds and post status

Couldn’t respond to others’ Facebook statuses; can’t reply to email from new contact unless it’s already in address book

Somewhat

*The opinions expressed above are those of the individual bloggers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Erie Insurance.

Drivers should keep their hands on the wheel, eyes on the road and minds on driving — anything else could become a deadly case of distracted driving./blog/can-smartphones-reduce-distracted-drivingErie Insurance